Zimbali Lodge

Nice place at the beach Nice Rooms and fabuleus breakfast

This property is no longer a “hotel” in the true sense and really should not be sold as such - it is verging on misrepresentation. It was clearly once a very attractive place but has been seriously neglected and is being turned into a downmarket timeshare resort. On checking in we were told that a) there are no restaurants, no room service and no bars other than a pool bar that opens only during the day. b) the only restaurants were at the Zimbali Fairmont - 3 km away, within the same estate, but that a transfer service was provided (as if this was a benefit!). We found this completely unacceptable and asked if we could upgrade to the Fairmont, but there were no rooms. As we were only there for one night and had had a long drive we weren’t really in a position to start looking for another hotel in the area, but did at least manage to get some lunch in a cafe in nearby Ballito. We would never stay there again in any circumstances and frankly Expedia should be ashamed of marketing it as a “hotel”. I’d be happy to give you a very long list of observations about this dump (including the utter farce of the dinner “arrangement” which didn’t include the ability to sign for the meal-cash or card was demanded. Most tellingly of all, ex Lodge staff who worked at the Fairmont told us it was embarrassing to see a once luxury resort run down like this,

Sehr schmutzig und abgewohnt, sehr alter Schmutz am Boden, In allen Ecken Spinnweben, Schimmel in Dusche und Waschbecken, Unterbau vom Bett total verdreckt, Vorhänge stehen von alleine vom Schmutz, Tapeten lösen sich von den Wänden, Kühlschrank trotz 2maliger Reklamation außer Funktion, offene Wände bei den Abwasseranschlüssen, wunderbare Zugänge für KAKERLAKEN, haben 2 Stück (ca. 5 cm groß!!) erschlagen / vergiftet! Schade um diese früher bestimmt tolle Location in allerbester Lage, da mangelt es am Management.